1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection terminal and a secondary battery using the same, and more particularly, to a connection terminal and a secondary battery using the same that have the anti-press function and the support function of a protection circuit board as well as the function of electrically connecting a bare cell with the protection circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a secondary battery refers to a chargeable and dischargeable battery that is different from anon-chargeable primary battery, and the secondary battery is widely used in the field of small high-tech electronic equipments such as cellular phones, PDAs, notebook computers and the like. In particular, a lithium secondary battery has been increasingly used because lithium secondary battery has an operating voltage of 3.6V that is three times higher than that of either a nickel-cadmium battery or a nickel-hydrogen battery widely used as power supplies for electronic equipment and the energy density per unit weight of the lithium secondary battery is higher.
The lithium secondary battery uses a lithium-based oxide as a positive electrode active material and a carbon material as a negative electrode active material. Furthermore, the lithium secondary battery is formed in various shapes, and the typical shape of the lithium battery may be cylindrical shape, square shape and pouch shape.
According to the construction of the lithium secondary battery having a rectangular shape, the rectangular secondary battery includes an electrode assembly having a jelly roll type that is formed by stacking and winding a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate in a state of interposing a separator between them, a can which has one side open to receive the electrode assembly, and a cap assembly that seals the open side of the can. Here, a unit including the electrode assembly, the can and the cap assembly is typically referred to as a bare cell of the lithium secondary battery, and the bare cell corresponds to one independent secondary battery.
And, a unit that has a protective circuit module coupled to the bare cell is typically referred to as a core pack of the lithium secondary battery, and a secondary battery used for a small electronic equipment such as a cellular phone, a PDA, a digital camera and the like is typically manufactured by inserting either the bare cell or the core pack into an exterior case referred to as a hard case. Here, the exterior case of the secondary battery forms a portion of the outside surface of the small electronic equipment.
Moreover, a secondary battery that is designed in a relatively simple external shape and can be used for various different small electronic equipments is being manufactured in recent years, and the secondary battery is typically referred to as an inner pack. Hereinafter, the term of inner pack will be used.
The general configuration of the inner pack is formed by arranging a protective circuit board such that the protective circuit board faces with any one side of relatively long two sides among four sides of a bare cell and molding between the bare cell and the protective circuit board by a molding resin after connecting the bare cell with the protective circuit board by a connecting apparatus.
Furthermore, a support made of Poron tape is installed between the bare cell and the protective circuit board. The Poron tape” refers a buffering element arranged between the bare cell and the protective circuit board, and the Poron tape is made of electrically insulated material and offers functions of filling a gap between the bare cell and the protective circuit board and buffering an impact between the bare cell and the protective circuit board induced by an external force applied to the battery. The support serves for filling up a gap between the bare cell and the protective circuit board. Hence, when an external force exerts on the protective circuit board in the direction of the bare cell, it is possible to minimize the deformation of the protective circuit board which is caused by the fact that the protective circuit board is supported and pressed by the support.
According to such a conventional inner pack, however, because a gap between the bare cell and the protective circuit board is filled up with a separate support made of Poron tape, a relatively expensive Poron tape needs to be employed as one of the material of the secondary battery, and thus such a problem is arisen that the total manufacturing cost of the secondary battery may be increased.
Furthermore, because a support made of Poron tape should be fixed on one side of the protective circuit board and one side surface of the bare cell, such a problem is arisen that the manufacturing process of the secondary battery becomes complicated.